Canberra are Toast

[crikey chris]

No real pressure on the toothless ones, all on the faders. Hope they smash the crap out of each other. Back to back people.

[stephenj]

i agree matty h , we looked world-beaters first half v souths in week 1, we were only trotting and souths know it!

[chopstiks]

Just saw both teams.

Canberras bench doesn't look that good.

[rented tracksuit]

What a rabble of a club. They had their end of season awards night on Tuesday night. Haha that is their season gone. Mark my words. They will not win after that. Their year has peaked and they are on the downslide.

Lol... you know nothing. Talk about going off early. Would hate to be your boyfriend!

[Dummy half]

What a rabble of a club. They had their end of season awards night on Tuesday night. Haha that is their season gone. Mark my words. They will not win after that. Their year has peaked and they are on the downslide.

Spot on

[Flipper Hands]

Lol... you know nothing. Talk about going off early. Would hate to be your boyfriend!

- ta RT, I needed that

[Random Rooster]

The standard of tonights game-like the Manly Souths game last week- was pretty ordinary.

If Lui,TKO.Zane and Collins can stop Nelson A.S and the Bromwich bros then the Roosters win.

Bet your bottom dollar that Felise Kaufusi will pull of his usual late, off the ball hits.....he is good for at least 2-3 a game and they always go unnoticed

[The Skeez]

Lol... you know nothing. Talk about going off early. Would hate to be your boyfriend!

I hope that half the Pen are right about us winning tonight. Many people talking as if we are already in the GF. It won’t be easy

[ism22]

Just saw both teams.

Canberras bench doesn't look that good.

IMO Canberra's not that good, they just have a lot of fiddly tactics. Souffs shoulda been a cinch for them, not a narrow victory.

ALSO!!!! Did anybody see how their strip training almost undid them? When Reynolds got that massive run, Hodgson's training taught him 'OOOH HANG ONTO THE BALL... WAIT... THEN STRIP!!!' Stripping was the right idea (1-on-1 tackle and all). Problem is, you can't strip after the completion of the tackle. Boom. IMO it woulda been justice if this had cost him the game. However, Souffs were too incompetent to capitalise on it. I thought it was hilarious though because that's exactly what the 'strip move' is... hand on the ball throughout the tackle and then tug the ball loose after the completion of the tackle. It's so stupid that they haven't applied the current rules to this hack of a tactic and it takes somebody doing it during a 1-on-1 tackle for them to realise it's illegal!

[Jacks Fur Coat]

IMO Canberra's not that good, they just have a lot of fiddly tactics. Souffs shoulda been a cinch for them, not a narrow victory.

ALSO!!!! Did anybody see how their strip training almost undid them? When Reynolds got that massive run, Hodgson's training taught him 'OOOH HANG ONTO THE BALL... WAIT... THEN STRIP!!!' Stripping was the right idea (1-on-1 tackle and all). Problem is, you can't strip after the completion of the tackle. Boom. IMO it woulda been justice if this had cost him the game. However, Souffs were too incompetent to capitalise on it. I thought it was hilarious though because that's exactly what the 'strip move' is... hand on the ball throughout the tackle and then tug the ball loose after the completion of the tackle. It's so stupid that they haven't applied the current rules to this hack of a tactic and it takes somebody doing it during a 1-on-1 tackle for them to realise it's illegal!

That thought crossed my mind that their obsession with stripping the ball could backfire.

May it cost them a big game. Karma.

[milanja]

Raiders are probably the most exciting team in the nrl to watch, with and without the ball, with halves of sezer and whighton, who gave them a chance?

they don’t play the boring structure, and they keep you on your toes with the strip. They have brought back some footy into an otherwise organised robotic game.

90% of the league world will be cheering them on next week.

[chopstiks]

IMO Canberra's not that good, they just have a lot of fiddly tactics. Souffs shoulda been a cinch for them, not a narrow victory.

ALSO!!!! Did anybody see how their strip training almost undid them? When Reynolds got that massive run, Hodgson's training taught him 'OOOH HANG ONTO THE BALL... WAIT... THEN STRIP!!!' Stripping was the right idea (1-on-1 tackle and all). Problem is, you can't strip after the completion of the tackle. Boom. IMO it woulda been justice if this had cost him the game. However, Souffs were too incompetent to capitalise on it. I thought it was hilarious though because that's exactly what the 'strip move' is... hand on the ball throughout the tackle and then tug the ball loose after the completion of the tackle. It's so stupid that they haven't applied the current rules to this hack of a tactic and it takes somebody doing it during a 1-on-1 tackle for them to realise it's illegal!

Agree mate, the strip led to the first try Corey Allan dropped which settled Canberra. The touchie calling that strip on Reynolds, he impressed me for the first time ever.

thought Souffs could've wrecked them by taking the lead when Canberra's B team came on and dropped it.

Many will point to Canberra defense, but jeez Souffs DH had a shocker. Cook wasnt DH at one point, took the run up near their line and then got stripped. All that build up of pressure wasted. Did Skeletor brief you lot on Canberra.

Cronk was saying earlier in the year that 1 second of indecision or a double pump at DH can ruin his attacking setup and then he has to reset .. he was sort of talking about Radley.

Anyway, we all see what Canberra does at training.

Overall if the Roosters served up that 80 min performance, in a preliminary final, after a year of training, Christ. !!!'!#!

[Bruce 38-0]

I am so against the strip. I just go back to a Robbos comments after the Canberra game. - something about you have three guys trying to turn you into a pretzel and then they fall off when one of them have the ball. Not very fair. However happy to concede it does have a place with fewer in the tackle initially.

Lastly as as long as it’s not done against us.

[ism22]

I am so against the strip. I just go back to a Robbos comments after the Canberra game. - something about you have three guys trying to turn you into a pretzel and then they fall off when one of them have the ball. Not very fair. However happy to concede it does have a place with fewer in the tackle initially.

Lastly as as long as it’s not done against us.

I'm all for finding loopholes and exploiting the rules to the max (that's how you win games and professionals of all people should be prepared for it). It's obviously served Canberra and Melbourne well this season (they could both make the GF on the back of it) and I have no complaint about this because they can only play by the whistle.

However, I'm glad we've focussed on improving our attack and defence rather than looking for shortcuts. It feels much better beating Souffs 30-6 while in cruise control rather than grinding out a win off the back of a pivotal strip and a flukey knock-on-turned-brilliance kick.

Obviously a win's a win, the Raiders deserve to be proud of their season (they have legitimately done well) and we have a big task ahead of ourselves tonight. But yeah... I'm proud that our tactics have gotten us this far as I reckon we have way more class/potential than anybody else this season. If we lose then it'll be very disappointing as it'll be a matter of wasted talent/opportunities rather than simply bad luck or a superior opponent.

[rented tracksuit]

I hope that half the Pen are right about us winning tonight. Many people talking as if we are already in the GF. It won’t be easy

Agreed. Im in total support but reality needs to be considered here and it wont be easy.

One thing will be assured, if we go down, so will Canberra next week.